We took Aaron to Washington D.C. when he was fourteen. Those days exploring the city have become cherished memories, and we have been eagerly anticipating having a similar experience with Maxwell.
We asked him where he wanted to go, but he had no strong preferences. (This is true to form for him because he dislikes making decisions.) His only request was that it be somewhere with good food.
Without a clear direction from him, we thought about where we wanted to go. I have always wanted to see Boston, especially in October since New England autumns are legendary. It seemed like this might be the perfect chance to selfishly check off a place on my bucket list.
But then we had another idea. Max has been taking French since he was in seventh grade, and so we thought it might be fun to go somewhere French speaking. France was out of the question because we couldn't leave our other kids long enough to make an overseas trip worth it. But maybe Montreal, Canada? Max's passport was still valid until early next year, so it was definitely be doable.
We were excited about the possibility for a couple of weeks. But then we started to look into the types of activities we could do there and discovered that Montreal is rich in Canadian history similar to the way, well, Boston is with American history.
We quickly realized we were way more interested in the historical sites in Boston than the historical sites in Montreal. So we scrapped Canada and reverted back to our original plan.
As our itinerary took shape, we knew we had made the right choice: Boston was going to offer the perfect combination of U.S. history, fall colors, and delicious food. It was a go.
Before I get into the details of what we did each day, I just have to say a big thank you to Mike's sister, Anne, who took our other kids while we were gone. Mike's mom and Mike's sister, Sonja, also pitched in to help. And our big kids really stepped up to help Silas not feel abandoned. Taking a trip like this with just one kid is truly such a gift, but it wouldn't be possible without willing helpers, and I'm so grateful.
And now, a little day-by-day recap to provide a glimpse of what we did and to help us keep the memories:
Thursday, October 10th
We took a red eye to Boston on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Not going to lie, it was rough. I might be getting too old for red eyes. None of us slept more than 45 minutes total. Our first glimpse of Boston was through groggy, bleary eyes.
We grabbed breakfast from Dunkin' Donuts while we were still in the airport. Nothing special, but it felt like the right thing to do since it was founded in Massachusetts (and honestly, I've never seen as many Dunkin' Donuts as we saw on this trip).
We had hoped to be able to check in early at our hotel or get day use at a nearby one so that we could sleep for a couple of hours, shower, etc., but neither option worked out. So instead, we freshened up as much as we could in the airport bathroom, picked up our rental car, and headed out for the day.
Max looked like he was about ready to keel over. He was not his usual spunky, chatty self, and I worried that he wasn't going to be able to enjoy the day at all in his condition. We actually ended up sleeping for probably 45 minutes after we had parked the car in the hopes that it would revive him.
We walked out onto the streets of Boston, and it was quite cold and blustery. We went to Tatte for breakfast. The space was warm and inviting, and everything looked amazing so we planned to return another day to try some more things. But as it turned out, we were all slightly disappointed with our food for one reason or another, so then going back didn't seem like much of a priority.
Max was still shuffling along, mostly going through the motions without fully engaging. But then we bought tickets for a guided tour of the first section of the Freedom Trail, and our tour guide was fully committed to the colonial part. He was energetic, theatrical, and over-the-top, and Max perked up within minutes of setting off on the tour.
We saw Boston Common, Massachusetts State House, the Granary Burying Ground, Old South Meeting House, Faneuil Hall, and more. Our tour guide was funny and entertaining. He even drew his sword to lead us across a busy intersection. This was such a great way to go through these historical sites, and we enjoyed it very much.
After that, we ventured off on our own. We walked all the way to the end of the Freedom Trail. We were going to tour the U.S.S. Constitution, but I had left my ID back in the car, so we had to hold off on that. Instead, we went to Bunker Hill. We climbed all the way to the top (294 steps). It wasn't the number of stairs so much as the tight spiral and narrow staircase that made me feel a little lightheaded. Max bounded his way up to the top, all traces of sleepiness completely gone. The view was great. When we got back to the bottom, all of our legs started shaking involuntarily. It was the weirdest feeling. We had to go find a park bench for a minute to let them chill out.
We headed back by way of Little Italy. By this time, it was mid-afternoon, and we were quite hungry. We went to Pizzeria Regina, but even though it was not peak lunchtime, there was still a long line along the side of the restaurant. We decided we could wait. There was something about standing in line for a solid half hour in the chilly weather, finally hearing our name called, and walking into the cozy, warm space that smelled amazing that just made that pizza some of the best of my life. I actually think this was my favorite meal of the trip, and it had everything to do with the lead up and anticipation. So good.
We had one more food stop to make as we walked back to our hotel, and that was at Mike's Pastries. We had been seeing tons of tourists carrying around Mike's boxes tied with string, and we finally felt like we blended in once we had our own box in our hands. I am not a huge cannoli fan, so I wasn't wowed by them, but I did like the pistachio cookie that we also got.
We finally made the long walk all the way back to our hotel (18,000 steps logged this day). A bed had never looked so good to us. We all crashed within minutes of walking into the room. We let ourselves sleep for about an hour before getting up again to finish the rest of the day. We wanted to be able to sleep that night.
Mike and I left Max to relax while we went in search of a yarn store. I had seen that Boston Fiber Company was nearby, and I wanted to check it out. It wasn't busy, and I ended up talking to the employee for quite awhile. I found out that she also went to BYU and that she was the dyer behind their Boston Fiber Company yarn.
We got takeout for dinner (Dave's Hot Chicken) and then watched Saint Ralph before calling it a night.
Friday, October 11th
We made our way out of Boston for the day's activities. We drove past Harvard before stopping at Bagelsaurus for breakfast. It was apparently the place to go since many bagels were already sold out for the day. It was probably the best cream cheese spread we've ever had, although it was laid on a little thick.
From there, we went to Lexington. It was a stunningly gorgeous fall day, and the leaves were popping with color.
We went on a guided tour of the historical sites in Lexington (the Lexington Battle Green, the Old Burying Ground, and the Old Belfry). In contrast to the guide we had the day before, this one was much more fact, rather than performance, based. He rattled off dates, numbers, names, and locations. He had a whole stack of binders in his pockets and satchel which he whipped out to show us maps or photos or more information. A lot of it went over our heads and we maybe zoned out just a little, but it was still entertaining in its own way.
Following Lexington, we went to Orchard House, the home of Louisa May Alcott. This was one of the things I was looking forward to the most on this trip, and it did not disappoint. The tour was extremely well done. It started out in the schoolhouse, home to Bronson Alcott's School of Philosophy. We watched a short documentary, which went through the major events in the Alcotts' lives and showed some of the things we would shortly see in Orchard House. We were not allowed to take any photos or videos inside the home itself, but my favorite thing was all of the original artwork by May Alcott (Louisa's youngest sister) that adorned the walls, fireplaces, and tables. It was obvious that Orchard House was used as the model for the March home in the movie adaptations of Little Women, so it all felt really familiar, and I really loved every minute we spent there.
When we got back in the car, we decided to listen to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Even though it wasn't set in Massachusetts, it still felt appropriate for the autumn season in New England. This is the kind of thing we couldn't do if we were traveling with all of our kids, but with a 14-year-old who loves words and language and story, it was just the thing.
We made a stop at the Old North Bridge, but it was closed for construction in preparation for the 250th anniversary next year, so there wasn't much to see.
We went to Walden's Pond next, and oh my goodness, what a beautiful, peaceful place! We walked the full perimeter of the pond, with the leaves crunching softly under our feet and the sunlight filtering gently overhead. Max made some comment about how he never understood what a "carpet of leaves" meant until he was walking through Walden Woods.
We stopped at the site of Henry David Thoreau's little house and added a rock to the many cairns. I am sure Walden's Pond is beautiful at any time of year, but I can attest that it was especially nice on an October afternoon.
You might notice there was no mention of lunch during the day. We somehow skipped it, which seemed like a serious oversight given the fact that Max's one request for this trip was for "good food." Luckily we had reservations for dinner at Merchants Row, located in a 300-year-old inn. We started off the meal with crab cakes (one of the food highlights from the trip) and ended it with fallen chocolate cake and left fully satisfied.
The 2019 Little Women finished off our pretty much perfect day.
Saturday, October 12th
I love visiting libraries in other cities, so we started out the morning at the Boston Public Library. The 19th-century architecture was so beautiful. The lobby has a mosaic ceiling with the names of famous Massachusetts residents (many of them authors). This opens up into a stunning stairwell guarded by a pair of lion statues and surrounded by large murals depicting various disciplines. We poked our heads into the impressive Bates Hall and then climbed the stairs to look at the religious murals of John Singer Sargent.
The library was close to Levain Bakery, something we all had been looking forward to. We loaded up on baked goods--enough to last us both Saturday and Sunday and be able to bring some home. And mmmm, heaven. As someone who tries chocolate chip cookies anywhere I can, these are hands down my favorite (and I feel like I can say that with confidence now that I've tried them in three different cities). We also stopped by Trader Joe's to stock up on groceries for Sunday and took everything back to our hotel.
Next, we went to the USS Constitution (by way of an uber). I had remembered my ID this time, and we spent a good hour walking around the deck of the ship, climbing down into the cabin area, and reading up on the history. The USS Constitution is still a commissioned ship with an assigned captain and crew. We also walked through the USS Cassin Young, a World War II destroyer.
In the evening, we had tickets to see Blue Man Group. We happened to be in Boston on a bit of a lull weekend between a lot of shows, so Blue Man Group was pretty much our only choice. It turned out to be providential because I don't think they would have been one of our top choices if we'd had other options, but Max absolutely loved them. They matched his sense of humor and were so entertaining. For my part, I was a little panicked when I saw ponchos on our chairs and realized that they were going to ask for lots of audience participation. Luckily, we were on the outer edge of the splash zone, and we never got asked to do anything. They made music in such unique and creative ways. The whole experience was a feast for the ears and eyes, and we all enjoyed it so much. The theater was a five-minute walk from our hotel, so we were back by 9:30.
Sunday, October 13th
Our last day in New England, and our plan was very simple: drive as far north as we could in the time we had left to see as many autumn leaves as possible.
And that's exactly what we did.
We timed our drive so we would end up in Derry, New Hampshire for church. But the parking lot was startlingly empty when we pulled in a couple of minutes before the hour. We talked to one other person, an actual member of the ward, who was just as surprised as we were. He said he had been out of town and must have missed the announcement that it was stake conference.
I was actually pretty disappointed because I love going to other wards when we travel and feeling both far away and at home at the same time. But alas, this wasn't Utah so there wasn't another ward building just around the corner. That was our one and only shot at church, so we resigned ourselves to go to God's outdoor cathedral instead (not a bad tradeoff).
The drive itself was spectacular. Although we get lots of fall colors in Utah, the reds and oranges are definitely not the same. Plus, we have to go up in the canyon to get the full impact of colors whereas in New England, they were always surrounding us, even when we were on the freeway.
We made a stop at Wagon Hill Farm in Durham, New Hampshire, which was said to be one of the prettiest locations in New England. However, as we traveled farther north, it seemed like we were no longer hitting the leaves at their peak, so I think we didn't see this little spot at its absolute best. It was still really pretty, just not super vibrant colors. The morning was cool and misty giving the whole setting an ethereal vibe, which I loved. Max's favorite part of this stop was a bench that was dedicated to a protest against the Olympic Oil Refinery in 1974. It seemed a bit random.
We kept driving until we passed the border into Maine. This felt somewhat epic to us. I've always wanted to take a summer vacation to Maine, and even though this was only just a brief glimpse, it was so fun to be in the very northeast corner of the country.
We stopped at Lobster Point, Maine, and Max got to do what he does best: climb over rocks and patiently look into tide pools and just observe the world around him. Mike and I sat on a bench and watched his slow, careful exploration of the coast. We wondered if he would ever come back on his own or if we'd have to eventually break the spell. But then he found a live crab that had been stranded, so he brought it up to show us before taking it down to the water's edge and releasing it.
And then it was finally time for us to turn around and head back towards Boston. We made one more stop along the way and did a short hike in Valley Lane Forest. We seemed to be the only people there, and it was quiet and beautiful and smelled amazing. A very fitting end to our time in New England.
Spending these few days with Maxwell was such a gift. He was the best traveling companion: adventurous, grateful, and curious. He kept us entertained with his witty commentary and thoughtful insights. It was a treat to get to focus only on him and now get to keep these memories for always. There have already been so many times in the last few weeks when we'll see a reference to Boston or New England and just give each other a knowing smile because we've been there. Together.
